Enterprise Explores

When business leaders talk about the talent crunch, the focus is usually on skills, communication, and job readiness. But Malaysia’s newly launched National Education Plan 2026–2035 introduces a more fundamental shift: time. With education pathways accelerating, students may enter university younger and reach the workforce sooner. While this may look efficient on paper, it raises a harder question...

Volatility, AI, and uncertainty are no longer future risks. They are the conditions businesses are operating in right now. Today, we examine what IBM’s 2026 Business and Technology Trends reveal about how organisations are responding to constant disruption. From decision-making at speed and real-time operations, to the shifting role of employees, AI transparency, and the growing importance of cont...

Following President Trump’s "Liberation Day" announcement threatening ASEAN with up to 49% tariffs, IDEAS argues that the member states of the 600-million-strong bloc panicked. Vietnam and Cambodia rushed to cut deals immediately, and Malaysia eventually followed suit with the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART), albeit after initial attempts to rally the region failed. We sit down with Dr. Stewar...

The Ministry of Education’s Education Blueprint 2026-2035 has officially landed with a clear, mandatory mandate: a Grade C floor for English, BM, Mathematics, and History. But as we enter a decade defined by generative AI and automation, is a static grade on a paper certificate still a valid currency for the Malaysian workforce? Or is the national curriculum benchmarking for a world that no longer...

Innovation is risky for banks, and traction is expensive for startups. Launched in May 2025, the PayNet Fintech Hub aims to solve this deadlock by acting as the "bridge" between Corporate Malaysia and innovation. BFM speaks with Gary Yeoh (PayNet) and Joshua Lim (Buzz) to explore how this ecosystem works. We dive into the success story of Buzz, a startup that pivoted from green-tech to a B2B finan...

The timing couldn't have been more scripted. Just as the Online Safety Act (ONSA) 2025 came into force on January 1st, the AI chatbot Grok sparked a controversy by generating inappropriate content, prompting action from Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). Lawyers Ong Johnson and Lo Khai Yi dissect this new regulatory landscape. We explore whether ONSA is a necessary shield a...

It’s a new year, and optimism is starting to creep back in. On this episode of Enterprise Explores, we examine Ipsos Malaysia’s 2026 Predictions report to understand how Malaysians are feeling about the year ahead and what that means for businesses. From confidence in the economy and attitudes towards AI and jobs, to the growing importance of wellbeing and the commercial impact of the 2026 World C...

2026 presents a landscape of mixed signals for Asia-Pacific: US tariffs are at their highest levels since the 1930s (effective rate of 13.6%), and China’s growth is projected to slow to 4.1%. Yet, Fitch Ratings has maintained a Neutral outlook for the sector. Thomas Rookmaaker, Head of APAC Sovereigns at Fitch Ratings, joins BFM to break down the region's "two-speed recovery", where AI-driven econ...

In late November, Costco filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the “Liberation Day tariffs", and the White House remained surprisingly silent. BFM speaks with Bryan DeAngelis of Penta Group to decode this "quiet rebellion." Corporate America is finally "unbending the knee," but they are doing it with a new playbook: filing lawsuits based strictly on business logic while avoiding th...

The "buy and wait" era is over. According to Knight Frank Malaysia, 2026 marks a shift toward "value hunting amid volatility." Amy Wong, Executive Director of Research & Consultancy at Knight Frank Malaysia, joins BFM to decode the 2026 outlook.  With office supply set to drop by 11% this year and over a third in 2027, the market is approaching a critical "decision year" where tenants los...

According to the Risk in Focus 2026 report, organisations in Southeast Asia correctly rank cybersecurity, business resilience, and digital disruption as their top priorities. Yet, with cybercrime losses in Malaysia crossing RM1 billion, there is a glaring gap between risk awareness and real-world preparedness . BFM explores this "implementation gap" with Suhailah Abdulla and Philip Satish Rao from...

2025 was a year of "stark contrast" for Malaysia’s private capital markets. While institutional commitments from GLICs like Jelawang Capital, Khazanah, and KWAP signaled continued government support, regional confidence faced significant headwinds. The eFishery scandal cast a long shadow over governance, while giants like Temasek signaled a bearish pivot, cutting back on early-stage investments in...

For years, the Malaysian fintech story was about anticipation, waiting for digital bank licenses, waiting for regulation, and waiting for mass adoption. According to the Malaysia Fintech Report 2025, the wait is over. Vincent Fong, Chief Editor of Fintech News Malaysia, joins BFM to review a year where Malaysia moved from "promise to delivery." We break down the explosive growth of DuitNow QR (whe...

For Malaysian SMEs, 2025 was a defensive year, graded a modest C+ (or B-) by SAMENTA. It was a year defined by uneven recovery, compliance shocks (from e-Invoicing to SST hikes), and the "Second China Shock" squeezing local businesses. For 2026, Datuk William Ng, National President of SAMENTA, outlines a strategy of "Selective Offense”. We discuss why businesses must prioritise cash preservation o...

If 2024 was the year of recovery, 2025 was the year of "overexuberance followed by utter deflation." While market cap peaked at $4.2 trillion and Bitcoin hit a high of $126k , the market has since cooled, with Bitcoin struggling to break past $100k since mid-November. But looking past the price action, the real story was the quiet rise of institutional plumbing. Hann Liew , Founder and CEO of Halo...

Malaysia’s economy scored an ‘A’ in 2025, with strong GDP growth and a strengthening Ringgit. But with slowing global growth and US tariffs looming, was 2025 a fluke or a foundation? Pankaj Kumar, Managing Director of Datametrics Research & Information Centre (DARE), joins BFM to kick off our "2025 Review & 2026 Outlook" series. We unpack the disconnect between stellar macro data and the "...

When we talk about Malaysian tech, we often talk about data centers and infrastructure. But are we actually building anything? Two weeks ago, over 600 developers, students, and founders answered that question at the Cursor x Anthropic Hackathon Malaysia. Kong Ka Weng and Faw Ali join us to break down how a small community meetup exploded into one of the region's largest AI coding marathons. They e...

A recent analysis of 4.6 million global conversations reveals a fracture in the climate narrative. While emerging markets like Brazil and Indonesia are surging with optimism driven by tangible infrastructure delivery, the US and UK are mired in skepticism, policy reversals, and fatigue. Dan La Russo, Senior Partner at Penta, joins us to unpack the massive shift from the era of "Climate Commitments...

General Managers must own AI, not CIOs or CTOs. A new report from Bain & Company reveals a sharp divide: while most companies are stuck in "pilot purgatory," a small group of AI leaders are securing 10–25% gains in EBITDA. The difference isn't the software, it's the strategy. Shazrul Asari and Dhruva Murugasu, Partners at Bain & Company, join us to explain why scaling AI requires a fundame...

As the year winds down, cyber attackers are gearing up. Semperis’ 2025 Ransomware Holiday Risk Report reveals that over half of ransomware attacks hit during weekends or holidays, when most organisations sharply reduce monitoring and response capability. With identity systems at the heart of almost every major breach, and with global cybercrime costs set to reach USD 10.5 trillion, the stakes have...

By 2026, cybercrime will no longer just be a service, it will be a fully automated industry . Trend Micro predicts a seismic shift where autonomous AI agents can scout targets, infiltrate systems, steal data, and even negotiate ransoms without a single human finger on the keyboard . Sage Khor, Technical Lead at Trend Micro, joins us to break down this AI-fication of cybercrime . He explains the da...

AI is changing how businesses operate and how they get attacked. Palo Alto Networks’ 2026 New Rules of Cybersecurity Report highlights six major shifts that will redefine cyber risk, from deepfake identity deception, rogue autonomous agents to data poisoning, quantum threats and even the browser becoming the new workspace. We speak with Sarene Lee, Country Director for Malaysia at Palo Alto Networ...

We are in the middle of an AI gold rush, driven by FOMO and massive capital expenditure. Yet, a recent MIT report reveals a startling statistic: 95% of Generative AI pilots fail to deliver measurable business impact. Why is the failure rate so high? Prashant Kumar, Founder of Entermind, joins us to discuss his new white paper, "The Seven Original Sins of AI Investment." He argues that the problem...

We’ve spent the last two years learning to talk to AI. Now, we’re entering the era of "Agentic AI", systems that can plan, execute, and act on their own. But are we ready to manage digital employees and what happens if they make mistakes? Huy Nguyen-Tuong, Managing Director at BCG, joins us to discuss the "Agentic Turn." He explains why adding AI to old workflows ("paving the cow path") is a recip...

For decades, Malaysia’s progress has been measured by GDP and economic data. But a new study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) flips the lens to focus on what Malaysians actually dream of. The findings? Financial freedom and mental well-being are now prioritised almost equally, signaling a shift in national sentiment. Nurlin Mohd Salleh, Head of BCG Malaysia, joins us to unpack the "MY Impian" repo...